


Say My Name - Or Don't

by Mika9889



Category: DCU
Genre: F/M, Minor Violence, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate AU, not actually romantic, unstable Harleen Quinzel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22038808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mika9889/pseuds/Mika9889
Summary: (A soulmate AU where you die if anybody but your soulmate says your name)After a year of dealing with Harleen Quinzel, Joker was bored of playing games with her. After leading her on and entrapping her fascination and getting almost nothing in return... Well, he decided their time was up.But what will he do when she survives saying her name?
Relationships: Joker (DCU)/Harleen Quinzel
Kudos: 20





	Say My Name - Or Don't

**Author's Note:**

> Hellooo~ I thought I'd try writing this, and while I'm not exactly sure how good my interpretation of Joker is or how my interpretation of Harleen will be received... Well, it's worth seeing what will happen.
> 
> Note; Harleen shares several of the same problems as Harley, although she's medicated or controls most of them, for the most part.

“Well, Doc... This has been a fun year, but I think our time is about up,” Joker leaned back in his chair, as best he could with the cuffs around his wrists and ankles. If only she had the key... That would make the situation much better. Honestly! How was he supposed to have the right amount of dramatic flair like this?!

Harleen, however, didn’t seem to understand what he meant... She tilted her head to the side, like a _puppy_. Yeesh. It was amazing he had stayed around this long. “Uhm... What do you mean, Mr. J?” She asked. “They’re not going to remove me from this case-- Since I’ve been making great progress with you...” Right? He could see the question in those blue eyes.

The clown scoffed, rolling his eyes. “... That’s not what I mean,” he said bluntly, before straightening up with a grin. His eyes were alight now. Sparking. Harleen jolted back in surprise. “You don’t get it, do you~? I’m _bored._ Of you. This game was wonderful when it lasted, buuut~! Miss **_Harleen Frances Quinzel_ ** ... Our game is **_done,_ **and I’ve won it!” As his speech continued, his voice raised into a cackle. His eyes and grin only got wilder when he said her name. Her full name.

Harleen froze as he spoke, and that wicked grin of his grew when he saw the color drain from her cheeks... Ah, **_finally_**! It almost made the year of frustration worth it. Any second now, it would be. Any _second_.

... Right? Joker’s grin slowly started to die as the seconds ticked by. He looked around for some sort of thunderous sound, or a lightning bolt, or... Anything. How long was that whole... Death if somebody other than your soulmate said your name thing supposed to take, exactly? Was it an instant smiting kind of situation, or..? What was the hold-up?

As his confusion grew, Harleen’s fear shrunk. Slowly, she relaxed more and more, looking around just as he was, albeit timidly... And Joker was getting more and more concerned. His eyes were the ones starting to widen.

“I’m... N-not dead?” Her voice was shaky when she spoke. “Is it... Supposed to be instantaneous? What’s...” She looked around quickly, before taking another look at him... And then Harleen quickly pushed away from the table and rolled over to her desk, where her ancient computer sat.

He moved over behind her, peeking at the screen as she carefully brought up the search engine.

‘How long do you have to live if someone says your name?’ It was typed in slowly, and she hesitated to hit enter... And so Joker scoffed and shoved past her, pushing her out of the chair as he took the seat and hit enter, impatiently. Within a few seconds, she was at his shoulder, just as he had been at her’s

Loading...

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Loading...

“How long is this going to take?!” He growled, slamming down the keyboard. Harleen made a sound between a squeak and a groan.

“Careful! I have to pay for that if you break it!” She hissed, shoving him... Before going wide-eyed when he turned on her, his eyes flaring. She stepped back a little, glancing down. “S-sorry--”

He backed down again and went back to glaring at the screen... Until it finally happened. Search results poured in, and he clicked before they even finished loading. She groaned again, looking over the ancient computer almost anxiously.

“... Don’t break it, please...” She mumbled worriedly.

“ _If it doesn’t load, I will!_ ” Joker snapped, slamming the keyboard again. _Load, damn thing_ ... **_Load_**! It couldn’t be she was fine. That wasn’t possible. He didn’t see how it was possible... Why would _the Joker_ have a soulmate?! Especially one like **_her_ **...

Finally, it did. He pounced forward, his eyes scanning the page intently. “‘Upon saying the non-soulmate’s name, death is often instantaneous. In rare situations, though, it can occur up to ten minutes later,’” he read out loud before he viciously spun back to face her. “How long has it been?!” He demanded.

Harleen jolted again. “U-Uhm... Fifteen minutes?” Her voice raised to a squeak, and Joker’s eyes widened. _Shit._ “... Does that mean I’m your--?”

“NO!” He bellowed, jumping to his feet and sending her stumbling back into the wall. “No, no, NO! That isn’t possible! I’m _the_ **Joker**! I don’t have a... A **_SOULMATE_ **!”

“I...” Harleen chewed her lip almost thoughtfully as she straightened up again, trailing off as she gathered her thoughts... He saw her expression shift, before, at last, it settled on something akin to determination. “Well, apparently you do, Mr. J.”

Before he could stop himself, even if he wanted to... Joker was upon her. He slapped her across the face, knocking her down, and he _glared_ at her, all venom and resentment and **_fury,_ ** ready to pounce on her in feral _rage_. The Joker did not have a soulmate. He would _never_ have a soulmate! He was a _solo act,_ a **legend-to-be**! And no _half-wit,_ **_ordinary_** little _newbie psychologist_ would take that from him!

He was going to kill her. Goddamnit, **_he was going to kill her_**! He couldn’t love. He wouldn’t. Especially not somebody like the fallen girl in front of him.

Harleen recovered before he could do anything. She spun back at him with a force that almost made him hesitate. Her hand was raised, just as his had been, and it was moving towards him. He ducked, she stumbled, and he turned back to her... 

Their eyes met at that moment, and all Joker could see was the spark in her eyes. The **_fire_**. It was like a reflection of his wild expression, and it was nothing like anything he had seen in her before, aside from in minuscule little bursts she had always brought herself back from. The feral rage subsided, if only slightly.

And then he caught her, rather than letting her fall. The reason registered a second later. A realization.

He couldn’t just kill her. Not yet. After all... If she could flare up like this, just as he could, it meant her potential hadn’t been tapped yet. That she wasn’t _like_ the rest of the doctors, the rest of the normies who stayed trapped by laws and rules and _sanity_. 

It meant she was like them. The supervillains. She just hadn’t been freed yet, and that meant he could do it. He could change that little goody-goody, he could shape her and remake her... And that seemed tempting in a way nothing else had before. How often do you get the chance to completely control how someone is reborn?

So he let her go, despite how easy it would be to throw her into the wall and strangle her right then and there instead, how tempting the thought of being rid of her in an instant was. She shoved away from him almost viciously, that fire still bright in her eyes...

But then it faded, and Harleen went wide-eyed as she pulled herself back. The spark was still there, but... She was forcing it away. So self-control was the only thing stopping her? _Interesting_.

He stepped away from her, casually wiping the front of his jumpsuit off as he regained his composure in an instant, disguising his fire. Lashing out would do no good, not yet... And so he had to keep playing the game.

“... Sorry, Doc. Got overwhelmed,” the Joker said simply, glancing down as if he was guilty. He wasn’t, of course, but...“Impulse control and all of that. Stress reaction. You get it.”

“Y-yeah... I do,” she nodded, and he couldn’t help but note the fact her accent was heavier than usual. Odd, considering it was usually extremely faint...

She cleared her throat as she shuffled back over to her seat, dragging his attention back to her. She sat back down, crossing her legs. “So... What do we do now, Mr. J?” Harleen asked, glancing up at him from the rim of her glasses.

He, too, crossed back to the table and took his seat, leaning back as if none of that exchange had happened. For a second, they sat there, looking at each other... And then he responded.

“... Good question, Harls.” He lilted the nickname as his eyes scanned over her in quick motions. Harleen started a little, but her expression softened despite it. Good. She was trusting him again.

He took in everything he could about her as she relaxed. He studied the way her hair was pinned back into a tight bun, the way she sat, the way held herself... It all screamed she was suppressing _something_ , and now? Joker’s sole plan was to find out what exactly it was, and then how to release it... Release _her_. Harley Quinn.

His lips curled into a smirk at the thought, as his eyes danced with plans. Ideas. Hypotheses _. Excitement._ Oh, it definitely would be fun to see just how long it would take to break her...


End file.
